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The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly stated to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of family resources to settle a long-delayed court action.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in public records: chopper travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which expected deference when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an era when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known uncertain monarch was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The statement from the institution was evidently that the removal of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.